To Pakistan defeat; to Mohammad Azharuddin and India a memorable victory and the door still open, at least for the time being.

There were still four-and-a-half overs of a low-scoring but pulsating match remaining when Wasim Akram, Pakistan captain and the remaining hope of his side, clipped a catch to the Indian legspinner Anil Kumble lurking on the square leg boundary in front of the pavilion.

It brought Venkatesh Prasad his fifth wicket of the innings, India victory by 47 runs - a huge margin in the circumstances and only the fourth time they have won in their last 15 meetings - and set the celebrations in motion.

Thunderflashes boomed on to the outfield, scattering the crowd like ripples on a pond, but the flag waving and whistle blowing continued unabated while Wasim, dignified in defeat, spoke, followed by Azharuddin and Prasad, the man of the match, whose five for 27 were the eighth-best figures in World Cup history.

India now retain a mathematical if unrealistic chance of a semifinal place, and came back well after their beating by Australia last Friday.

Pakistan, on the other hand, have problems. Seven years ago in Australia they overcame the most dreadful of starts to gather momentum and win the World Cup. There is no such luxury in this tournament: each match counts and in losing successive matches to Bangladesh, South Africa and now India, that has disappeared.

They should still qualify for the semi-finals (although with a game against Zimbabwe to come, nothing can be taken for granted), but Wasim has his work cut out to raise the tempo.

Pakistan should have made a better fist of the run chase, for if the pitch by the finish had lost much of any pace it had to begin with, the ball offered little help to the bowlers. India's total of 227 for five had appeared to be short of adequate by 30 to 40 runs.

Pakistan lost the early wicket of Shahid Afridi, potentially a volatile batsman, but none the less had set off at such a gallop that a massacre seemed on the cards. Thirtyfour for one from the first five overs alone, and Pakistan were on fire.

A shrewd captain in one-day cricket will ring the changes, looking for a combination that will stem the flood and then, if the pressure can be maintained, to chip away at the batting order.

So Azharuddin took Javagal Srinath from the Warwick Road End - where strangely he was bowling into a stiffish breeze, albeit one helping his away swing - and instead installed him at the Stretford End, with Mohanty his partner. Together the pair began a smothering process, depriving Anwar the oxygen of runs, and putting pressure on Ijaz Ahmed.

Srinath drew Ijaz into a stroke and Azharuddin snaffled the catch at second slip. Prasad then replaced Srinath, and immediately had Salim Malik leg before wicket, followed four overs later by the left-handed Anwar, superbly caught by the same fielder this time at first slip. Then, when, Kumble's bounce did for Azhar Mahmood, Pakistan had lost half their wickets with just 78 on the board and were deep in trouble.

In the 10 overs that it took them to put together a sixth-wicket stand of 46, salvation came in the contrasting forms of Moin Khan and Inzamam-ul-Haq. Moin, ironwilled and the beating heart of this Pakistan side, somehow cajoled his partner into quick singles, getting him to feed the strike. Moin responded by clipping Robin Singh over midwicket for six and then glancing Kumble delicately fine for four more.

Azharuddin turned again to Prasad, and his first ball was pulled by Moin straight to Sachin Tendulkar as the finer of two long legs placed there for precisely that stroke. Moin had made 34 from 37 balls, while Inzamam's score had advanced by just 11.

It was the beginning of the end, as Srinath, Prasad and Kumble picked off the lower order. The only aggression came from Inzamam - who finally managed to find the boundary with his 85th ball but was then lbw for 41 - Abdul Razzaq, who pulled a six and groin at one and the same time and ended up with Moin as his runner, and a brief flurry from Wasim.

The best batting of India's innings had come when Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid added 58 for the second wicket before Tendulkar, 45 and past 8,000 runs in one-day internationals, drilled a catch to wide long-off.

By then the Pakistan fielding had become ragged. Dravid was able to make 61 from 85 balls - his third half-century of the tournament to go with two hundreds - before he was caught at extra cover.

Azharuddin's 59 helped add 69 from the last 10 overs.